Microsoft walks away from Nscale's Loughton site as Nscale reportedly nears a second $45bn Anthropic deal and AirTrunk shelves its REIT

The week in 30 seconds

• Europe: Microsoft confirmed it has pulled out of Nscale's planned Loughton site in Essex, after UK media reported the site would not get grid power until the 2030s.
• North America: Nscale is reportedly in talks with Anthropic on a second deal worth about $45bn for a 460MW building at its Monarch campus in West Virginia, the week's biggest money story.
• Asia Pacific: AirTrunk delayed its US$1.5bn Singapore REIT listing to next year and is reported to be close to selling its Johor data centres for about US$2bn, as NEXTDC halted trading over a power delay in Melbourne.

The headline story

Nscale had the week that sums up the AI build-out. On 19 October Microsoft confirmed it has exited its planned lease at Nscale's Loughton site, once billed as the UK's largest sovereign AI data centre. UK media reported that grid officials told Nscale the site would not have power until the 2030s. Microsoft said the decision relates to a single site and that the partnership continues, and Nscale said it is looking at other power sources for Loughton.

The same day, Bloomberg reported that Nscale is negotiating a deal with Anthropic worth about $45bn for a second building at its Monarch campus in West Virginia, with 460MW of Nvidia Vera Rubin capacity (KSL, via Reuters). The FT reported that it would roughly double Anthropic's commitments to Nscale and could be signed within weeks. Neither company commented.

Both stories land as Nscale prepares a New York listing. TNW, citing Bloomberg, reported that Nscale is seeking about $30bn and up to $3bn of new money, while some investors said $16bn to $19bn would draw more buyers, and that its flagship Norwegian site is running about six months late. Contracts are not the scarce input. Power and delivery are.

Talent signal: neoclouds now need grid and power procurement leaders who can secure energised sites on a dated timetable, and UK country heads who can tell customers honestly when power will arrive. In the US, West Virginia needs programme directors for 460MW buildings.

AI infrastructure watch

The GPU and AI factory moves of the week, and the leadership they need. More on our AI infrastructure page.

CoreWeave's bonds wobble, then Goldman upgrades the stock

On 14 October the yield on CoreWeave's unsecured bonds touched 15% and its shares fell sharply, with Nebius down 6% (24/7 Wall St). On 19 October Goldman Sachs upgraded CoreWeave to Buy and both stocks recovered some ground (24/7 Wall St).

Talent signal: treasurers, debt capital markets heads and investor relations leaders who can explain a leveraged GPU balance sheet to credit markets.

Tenstorrent raises $1.5bn at a $6.2bn valuation

The AI chip company's Series E was led by Trace Capital and Innovation X, with ARK Invest, Sandisk, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price and Tether Investments joining, and will fund production of its Galaxy servers (Reuters, via Galveston County Daily News).

Talent signal: manufacturing, supply chain and data centre sales leaders for alternative AI hardware.

ByteDance reportedly nears a custom chip deal with MediaTek

Bloomberg reported that ByteDance is in advanced talks to buy custom data centre AI chips from MediaTek, as US export limits restrict its access to Nvidia's most advanced parts; nothing is final (TechNode).

Talent signal: silicon programme and hardware sourcing leaders in Taiwan and China as AI fleets diversify away from a single supplier.

North America

AEP plans a $4bn fuel cell plant to power Google in Wyoming

AEP plans a 702MW Bloom Energy fuel cell plant near Cheyenne, with Google buying the output under a 20-year agreement and full operation expected by the end of 2028 (POWER).

Talent signal: on-site generation and utility partnership leaders, as hyperscalers buy power directly rather than wait for the grid.

Digital Realty proposes a 1GW campus in Kokomo, Indiana

The plan covers three single-storey buildings of about 3 million sq ft on 476 acres, with up to 1GW of IT capacity and completion targeted for 2033; Digital Realty has no Indiana data centres today (Baxtel).

Talent signal: a greenfield Midwest campus needs a site lead, power development and community relations from day one.

Virginia senator files a bill for a three-year pause on approvals

Senator Russet Perry's SB 843 would bar state agencies and localities from approving data centre applications for three years from 1 July 2027; Governor Abigail Spanberger favours a different framework (Baxtel).

Talent signal: government affairs leaders in Northern Virginia, where the policy risk now sits at state level.

Canada's cyber agency plans a 60MW data centre near Ottawa

The Communications Security Establishment plans a facility costing up to C$1.85bn, with a tender expected early next year and Treasury Board approval still pending (The Globe and Mail).

Talent signal: cleared project and security leaders for sovereign government builds in Canada.

Europe

A £25bn data centre and solar plan emerges near King's Lynn

Evolution Power's Longmarsh Green Energy scheme pairs a data centre needing up to 1GW with up to 1.3GW of solar and batteries across about 4,695 acres in Norfolk; the developer cites £25bn of potential investment and targets operation in 2031 (Resultsense).

Talent signal: NSIP planning, consenting and stakeholder leaders for UK gigawatt schemes.

Aether Infrastructure signs for a former gearbox plant in Strasbourg

The French AI consortium signed a preliminary agreement for the 90ha Port du Rhin site, which has 25MW of grid power, and is targeting a 2027 opening and EU AI gigafactory funding (BeBeez, via DCD).

Talent signal: brownfield conversion and EU funding leaders in eastern France.

Curtis Hall proposes a 49.9MW gas plant for its Cardiff campus

The developer's three planned data centres need 150MW from the grid, expected in July 2033, and a temporary gas plant could run from July 2028; critics say the size avoids the 50MW threshold for Welsh Government approval (BeBeez, via DCD).

Talent signal: bridging power and planning leaders who can defend interim generation to councils.

Waterford refuses a data centre and gas scheme at Kilmeaden

The council refused a 108.79ha scheme with three ICT buildings, an energy centre of 16 gas turbines and a solar farm (RTÉ).

Talent signal: Irish planning and energy strategy leaders, as on-site gas meets local resistance.

Middle East & GCC

HUMAIN tenders a 100MW AI data centre in Riyadh

MEED reported a HUMAIN EPC tender for a 100MW facility in Al-Saad, built in two 50MW phases from October 2028, with an option for another 100MW, racks of 240kW to 250kW and direct-to-chip liquid cooling; bids are due on 8 November (MEED).

Talent signal: liquid cooling, commissioning and EPC delivery leaders in Riyadh.

FII postponed to 2027 as Iran warns Gulf backers of AI firms

Saudi Arabia moved the Future Investment Initiative, due on 26 to 29 October, to 2027, which The National linked to Houthi attacks on the kingdom (The National). Separately, Iran's parliament speaker warned Gulf governments and investors against supporting AI companies Tehran accuses of aiding military operations (The Media Line).

Talent signal: security, resilience and crisis leadership for Gulf operators and their boards.

Saudi Arabia proposes a shared GCC compute network

At a GCC ministerial meeting in Bahrain, Minister Abdullah Al-Swaha called for pooled computing and digital interconnection modelled on the GCC power grid, and said Saudi data centre capacity has grown from 68MW in 2021 to more than 467MW (Arab News).

Talent signal: cross-border interconnect and government partnership leaders across the GCC.

Meeza and Microsoft launch a sovereign private cloud in Qatar

The service runs on Azure Local in Meeza's Qatari data centres, aimed at data residency and disaster recovery for regulated industries (The Tech Capital).

Talent signal: sovereign cloud product and public sector sales leaders in Doha.

Asia Pacific

AirTrunk delays its REIT and reportedly nears a Johor sale

Bloomberg reported that AirTrunk has pushed its US$1.5bn Singapore REIT listing into next year amid higher rates (The Star), and Reuters reported it is close to selling its Johor data centres to a group including KWAP at about US$2bn (W.Media).

Talent signal: capital markets and asset transition leaders in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

NEXTDC halts trading over a power delay at Melbourne M3

NEXTDC requested a trading halt on 19 October ahead of an update on a delay to power supply at M3, saying FY27 guidance may be affected (Capital Brief).

Talent signal: utility interface and energisation leaders in Victoria.

Malaysia plans a Data Centre Bill as approved power reaches 12.3GW

The economic council agreed to draft a Digital Infrastructure (Data Centre) Bill for Cabinet in 2027 (W.Media), and the energy minister said data centre projects held approvals for 12.3GW of supply as of August (NST).

Talent signal: regulatory and sustainability leaders in Johor and Kuala Lumpur.

Princeton Digital Group reportedly seeks up to US$1.2bn for Johor

Bloomberg reported a three-year loan of up to US$1.2bn to fund PDG's 198.8MW Johor campus and refinance debt (Bloomberg, via Yahoo).

Talent signal: project finance and construction leadership in Johor.

New money

Funding rounds, financings, IPOs, M&A and investment pledges announced this week.

New capacity

Leadership moves

• Uday Ruddarraju, OpenAI's CTO of Compute, will lead its overall compute organisation after infrastructure lead Sachin Katti said he is leaving on 15 November (American Bazaar). A handover at the top of one of the largest compute buyers.
• Petter M. Tømmeraas, formerly Managing Director of Data Center Services at Aker Horizons and Aker Nscale, appointed CEO of Transistor DC (Transistor DC). He takes on a Nordic pipeline of about 2GW.
• Pierre DuBois, previously at Tigercomm, appointed Vice President of Public Affairs at AIB Data Centers (Stock Titan). Another sign that community and policy work is now a senior hire.

The T4X view

This week the gap between signed demand and live power became the story. Nscale can reportedly double a $45bn customer relationship yet lose a flagship tenant to a grid date, and AirTrunk, NEXTDC and the Cardiff gas plan all point the same way. The leaders boards should be hiring now are those who can energise a site on schedule and explain the risk plainly to investors when they cannot.